The country owes it to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who founded Proton in 1983 which saw the roll-out of the first national car, the Proton Saga on July 8, 1985.
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It was his idea that placed Malaysia on the world map as one of the leading car manufacturers, and within a few years Proton cars managed to penetrate markets in at least 26 countries, including the United Kingdom, China, South East Asia nations, Australia, the Middle East, South Africa and soon Latin America.
Yes, we are proud. Being among the first to test drive the first generation of Proton Saga in 1985, I got no reason to complaint about Proton models after that, and Dr Mahathir will be remembered by its each and every production.
Proton was under Khazanah Nasional then until DRB-Hicom bought it for RM1.2 billion in January 2012, and that 'automatically and technically' turned Proton into a private-owned company; no more a government GLC.
The former prime minister had really excelled in this particular sector, and in order to protect Proton's interest, his government came up with various measures, among which was imposing higher taxes and import duties on import models.
Some quarters criticised such a policy but it helped Proton when it sales soared as compared to the class of imported cars from Japan. Proton really dominated the market.
And yesterday, Dr Mahathir said the government has sidelined the national car manufacturer by not offering the company either financial support or encouragement.
The Proton chairman claimed the government ignored to set aside allocation in various areas, including the export of cars and funding to pioneer future technologies, such as electric cars.
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However, as we move towards trade liberalisation, we cannot avoid competition and must accept the fact that while we need to export our products, we also need to reciprocate by opening the door to cars from other countries.
Rafidah even took a swipe at Proton in mid-2005 when she was criticised over the influx of Korean and Chinese cars in the country.
“I hope Proton would stop looking for others to blame and look inwards for re-thinking... unless Proton re-looked at its market target, it would be hard-pressed to compete globally with other makes, especially those from Korea, price-wise.
"Competitors were few relative to the total number of imports, which was only 10% of total cars produced a year and the imports also included cars which were not in direct competition with Proton such as Mercedes Benz and BMW.
“So find your own niches and there will be niches. We used to export 27,000 cars and we can do that again. So if Proton cannot compete, then there must be something wrong with
Proton..."
And I don't think the government under Najib Razak wants to see Proton takes a tumble.
"National pride. Always has a place on my desk, and in my heart Happy 30th anniversary,"he tweeted in July, a week after Dr Mahathir lamented Putrajaya's plan to liberalise the automobile industry, which would open up local car makers to foreign competition.
Economists were of the opinion that competition through the opening up of the industry would be good because it would benefit consumers while allowing local industry players to explore export markets.
However, Dr Mahathir and friends don't like Najib anymore...and with the TPPA in the pipeline, the government will forever looks 'bad'.
Proton is a private-limited company, not a GLC anymore. The government cannot prolong its protectionism on local products if we want them to go beyond our shores. Proton is already 30-years old and we believe this 'pride of the nation' has what it takes to be at par, if not better, with other manufacturers.
We love Proton!
Yes, we are proud. Being among the first to test drive the first generation of Proton Saga in 1985, I got no reason to complaint about Proton models after that, and Dr Mahathir will be remembered by its each and every production.
Proton was under Khazanah Nasional then until DRB-Hicom bought it for RM1.2 billion in January 2012, and that 'automatically and technically' turned Proton into a private-owned company; no more a government GLC.
The former prime minister had really excelled in this particular sector, and in order to protect Proton's interest, his government came up with various measures, among which was imposing higher taxes and import duties on import models.
Some quarters criticised such a policy but it helped Proton when it sales soared as compared to the class of imported cars from Japan. Proton really dominated the market.
And yesterday, Dr Mahathir said the government has sidelined the national car manufacturer by not offering the company either financial support or encouragement.
The Proton chairman claimed the government ignored to set aside allocation in various areas, including the export of cars and funding to pioneer future technologies, such as electric cars.
“We were supposed to receive money for research and development, yet we didn’t receive it.“We need the money to produce electric cars. That was our promise to the government and we want to do it but we are not getting the money from the government,” he told reporters at the Proton Excellence Centre in Shah Alam, Selangor.Mahathir however later said Proton only needed 'encouragement' from the government and not financial aid in order to develop.
The elderly statesman had earlier suggested that Putrajaya shoulder the blame for the high prices of local cars instead of Proton.
The high taxes of up to 300 per cent on Proton cars, he argued, forced the national car maker to jack up the retail prices of its vehicles.
“Proton is always blamed because the price of cars are high. It’s not Proton but the government wanting income.”
Until the advent of Perodua in 1993, Proton cars dominated the roads. However, while Perodua spent billions of ringgit in research and development (R & D) for new models, Proton was a bit lagging in that aspect. And that makes Perodua models more popular in terms of design and prices.
The tax imposed on Proton is equally imposed on Perodua and other makes while excise duty on imported models remains higher.
It was unfortunate that Proton failed to clinched a deal with Volkswagen in 2010. Otherwise, the national car could have some controlling stake in the European company, whose new models are fast gaining recognition worldwide, and also in Malaysia.
After the success cooperation with Mitsubishi, Citroen, Lotus and MV Agusta, the failed deal with Volkswagen had somehow frustrated Dr Mahathir and many Malaysians. The latest tie up was with Honda for the replacement of Perdana for government's senior officials use.
Ten years ago, back in 2005, the AP King controversy exploded when documents regarding the number of Approved Permits (APs) given to just four Malay billionaires were revealed during the Umno annual general assembly.
I believe Dr Mahathir still remember this. According to the documents, the four AP Kings were earning RM1 billion a year just from the sale of the APs, and twice or thrice that if they used the APs themselves to import the cars.
Fingers started pointing at Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz. Whispers during the Umno assembly were that these four AP Kings were the Minister’s proxy or that she had a cut of the action. Of course, these allegations were never proven, as most allegations in Malaysia never are. So they remain mere allegations until today.
In 2006, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad accused Rafidah of corruption related to the issuing of APs for importing foreign vehicles.
Dr Mahathir also criticised Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s handling of the AP issue. Dr Mahathir then expressed his surprise that Rafidah was still retained as a Cabinet Minister although two people on the list of persons issued with the highest number of APs were linked to her.
In March 2008, soon after the general election, Abdullah dropped Rafidah from the Cabinet, although she had won her seat, (maybe) just to please Dr Mahathir who was constantly on his back regarding the AP issue.
Dr Mahathir, had on July 26, 2005 said:
"I am not envious of Malays becoming rich. But their wealth must be obtained in the right way... I have many times ticked off those who sell their APs to get rich quickly... it was clear that the problem of APs being sold was now widespread and that it is the responsibility of a minister to monitor the situation to ensure such abuses do not occur."Some people had also blamed Rafidah for opening the floodgates to cars from South Korea and China. Dr Mahathir, had in July this year made a sarcastic remark about it in his blog:
“It is therefore good that the Malaysian automotive industry should compete with cars imported from Japan, Korea, China and Germany. Incidentally these countries impose conditions and standards which prevent Malaysian cars from being imported into their countries to compete. So the consumers in Japan, Germany, Korea and China cannot enjoy the benefits of competition like their Malaysian counterparts.“Some of us may have noticed that in sports, for example, competition is between people of the same category by age or in football by division. In golf handicaps are given so that the competition would be fair.”I do respect his view.
However, as we move towards trade liberalisation, we cannot avoid competition and must accept the fact that while we need to export our products, we also need to reciprocate by opening the door to cars from other countries.
Rafidah even took a swipe at Proton in mid-2005 when she was criticised over the influx of Korean and Chinese cars in the country.
“I hope Proton would stop looking for others to blame and look inwards for re-thinking... unless Proton re-looked at its market target, it would be hard-pressed to compete globally with other makes, especially those from Korea, price-wise.
"Competitors were few relative to the total number of imports, which was only 10% of total cars produced a year and the imports also included cars which were not in direct competition with Proton such as Mercedes Benz and BMW.
“So find your own niches and there will be niches. We used to export 27,000 cars and we can do that again. So if Proton cannot compete, then there must be something wrong with
Proton..."
And I don't think the government under Najib Razak wants to see Proton takes a tumble.
"National pride. Always has a place on my desk, and in my heart Happy 30th anniversary,"he tweeted in July, a week after Dr Mahathir lamented Putrajaya's plan to liberalise the automobile industry, which would open up local car makers to foreign competition.
Economists were of the opinion that competition through the opening up of the industry would be good because it would benefit consumers while allowing local industry players to explore export markets.
However, Dr Mahathir and friends don't like Najib anymore...and with the TPPA in the pipeline, the government will forever looks 'bad'.
Proton is a private-limited company, not a GLC anymore. The government cannot prolong its protectionism on local products if we want them to go beyond our shores. Proton is already 30-years old and we believe this 'pride of the nation' has what it takes to be at par, if not better, with other manufacturers.
We love Proton!